The blog of Bjorn and Jeannette, a freethinking couple in Saint Paul, MN

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

I Sold My Soul On eBay

Author Hemant Mehta will be speaking about his book, I Sold My Soul On eBay, at the Roseville Public Library on Sunday April 15th from 1:00 to 3:30 PM, with dinner following if you'd like. Copies of his books will be made available, and of course, he will be signing them. The book is being made available 2 days ahead of schedule for this event. So, what is, I Sold My Soul On eBay about? Read the following blurb from the meetup event:

In January 2006, Hemant Mehta, an atheist and chair of the board of directors of the Secular Student Alliance (SSA), decided to auction his time on eBay to attend the church or place of worship of the winner's choosing, at the rate of $10 per hour (to be donated to SSA). The winning bid of $504 came from Jim Henderson, an ex-minister from Seattle, Washington.

Henderson specializes in visiting churches and giving them advice on how they can improve. He thought, What better critic is there than an atheist? Henderson asked Mehta to visit nine churches in Illinois (totaling less than the 50 hours due) and give an honest impression of his experiences.

In the meantime, Mehta became an instant celebrity. His story appeared on the front pages of The Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Seattle Times. He was also featured in many Christian magazines.

I encourage everyone to attend, believers and non believers alike. Anyone can ask questions, and they will. Atheists are terrific skeptics after all, and I'd like to see some good opinion from the other side.